Coming Soon! Joyce Sidman's Swirl by Swirl Nonfiction Poetry Picture Book

     Check out this engaging preview for Joyce Sidman's latest book Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature (Houghton Mifflin, 2011.) It is beautifully illustrated by Caldecott Award winner Beth Krommes. Sidman and Krommes previously collaborated on the picture book Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow (Houghton Mifflin, 2006.)  Swirl by Swirl will be released on October 4th, and I can't wait to use it as a fresh mentor text at my school! Not only will it be another book to add to my Sidman author study, it will be an additional example of one of my favorite niches for picture books referred to as hybrid nonfiction. Stay tuned for a blog post featuring how I used the text in a lesson within the next month! In the meantime, you can explore the Reader's Guide from Joyce Sidman's website. It's full of scientific tie-ins for lessons. I hope you are inspired and energized like I am to dig into a new mentor text!

Links for National Poetry Month - Part 2: Teacher Instructional Inspiration and Student Interactives!

     It's hard to believe that April is flying by so quick! Here is a "Part 2" to the collection of poetry links. Remember that poetry is a great, quick jolt of reading and writing during this busy time of year! Enjoy!

Reading Rockets:

• Interviews with poetry authors
• Poems Don't Have to Rhyme book suggestion list
• Poetry For All Ages book suggestion list

Scholastic:

• Humorous poetry writing for kids with Jack Prelutsky
• Free verse poetry writing for kids with Karla Kuskin
• Writing I Spy poetry rhyme for kids with Jean Marzollo
• Poetry Idea Engine Student Interactive

The Miss Rumphius Effect Blog - This well known blog is featuring all current posts as well as previous posts related to "poetry in the classroom."

The Poetry Foundation - This link leads you to their children's portion of their site, although it's all interesting! A special feature is former poet laureate Jack Prelutsky's tips to hear!

PBS for Teachers - Explore the offerings of instructional ideas this portion of the PBS website has to offer in the realm of poetry. This particular link takes you to a fun haiku interactive that can easily be used to launch a lesson as well as let students do independently. On PBS's site for the book character Arthur, his buddy Fern has a section of the site that is kid friendly regarding poetry.

Fern, Arthur's friend, has her own
poetry site on PBS for Kids.

                                               

ReadWriteThink - National Poetry Month is highlighted through a variety of lesson plans that span various grade levels. This site is co-sponsored by the premier literacy associations: The International Reading Association and the National Council of the Teachers of English. Check out some of the student interactives that they have available:

• Shape Poems
• Acrostic Poems
• Diamante Poems

ETTC's Poetry Forms - The Educational Technology Training Center of New Jersey has created fill in templates that can help hold the hands of students as they create various poems with particular themes and topics. This is great if you are having students in the lab or laptop, as well as a language arts work station in the class.

Links for National Poetry Month - Part 1: Favorite Poetry Authors!

     I love to share the emotions, laughter, and smiles of poetry with students during April as National Poetry Month! Poetry should certainly have a home in classrooms throughout the 

year. I have witnessed teachers using poetry for a variety of reasons, ranging from fanciful fiction to non-fiction selections which illustrate with words descriptive visuals for students to absorb. I have always enjoyed marinating in the precisely picked language. When I taught in the classroom, I enjoyed inviting students to find a poem to share or to pen one of their own to help open up our special bonding time of interactive read aloud. What a great way to practice savoring language and reading fluently, without speeding through at the speed of sound? :)

     Here are a few of the sites from favorite children's poetry authors to further gear up the children about poetry. Check them out, and have fun exploring the richness of language when presented in the petite package of a poem!



Jack Prelutsky  - Here the former National Children's Poet Laureate Prelutsky presents a super appealing website for kids.

Giggle Poetry - which includes interviews and ideas from children's poets - great to share inspirations on author's and their crafting with the students :)



Kristine O'Connell George - This author has generously posted "Poetry Aloud!" where many of her own poetry works from her published books are available for your downloading and enjoyment. As she says, "Poetry is meant to be read aloud!" Two of my many favorites from this author are featured here in the pictures: Fold Me a Poem,Toasting Marshmellows: Camping Poems, and the new Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems.

George also has a particular page that suggests 33 ways to celebrate poetry.

Brian P. Cleary - Cleary is an author of books on parts of speech, math, and, POETRY! This portion of his page is purely kid friendly, poetry playing fun.

Nikki Grimes - Author Nikki Grimes has a "Poem To Go" section on her website, where she posts things such as her inspiration behind a poem idea, or a poem started for the reader to complete.

Robert Munsch - Author Robert Munsch shares some of the poetry which he says he writes for some of the children who write him letters. How cool is that!?!

Eileen Spinelli - This author/illustrator has a portion of her website where she posts a "Poem of the Month." Perfect for shared reading activities with a whole group! I also have a signed copy of the beautifully illustrated Feathers: Poems about Birds!  

Janet Wong - Hear author Janet Wong read poetry via the audio feature by clicking on the microphone! I especially appreciate how she writes about her relationship with poetry and its power in the main text of this page.

Shel Silverstein - Classic children's poet Silverstein's clever, and often offbeat wit, is treasured by children generation after generation. Check out his website to see more of his creativeness!

Hope that these sites serve as inspiration for you! :) Enjoy!

Reading Suggestion: E-Anthology Poetry Tag Time!

     I found out about a neat new anthology that was just launched this week entitled Poetry Tag Time. Author Janet Wong and professor/blogger Sylvia Vardell compiled an collection of poetry that is only available as an "e-anthology" for e-readers. On Amazon for the Kindle it's a reasonable 99 cents. You can also download a free sample to a Kindle as well. In addition, it's available to download to other devices such as a computer or iPhone through this free Kindle app on the website. 

    The format of this collection is unique because it is a total of 30 poems from 30 various well-known children's authors. It starts with a poem from Jack Prelutsky about the moon, which then served as the inspiration for the next poem from Joyce Sidman. In the book, Sidman explains that Prelutsky's poem on the moon led her to think of eggs, which then led her to wonder about where everything is born! The following poem from Nikki Grimes is inspired by Sidman's last word in her poem "sun" which led Grimes to write about sunflowers.  The whole book is a big writing version of "Tag, You're It!" Isn't that a cool way to teach a lesson in a classroom writing community? Since April is National Poetry Month, what a perfect independent writing project that can be passed from one student to another. The feeling that you can inspire another writer would inspire children to be creative and inspire subsequent classroom authors as well. Once edited and revised, the students can publish the poems on the computer, and then the teacher can print and bind the collection for an instant favorite class book!  

    Check out Poetry Tag Time's website! You can learn a bit about each one of the authors as well as read about the concept in the words of the authors. Poetry Tag also has started a neat blog to extend and inspire poetic writing. Even though it has just recently been started, there is already a great post about using Jack Prelutsky's poem for classroom instruction. The blog states that the 30 poems will be celebrated throughout the month of April, so bookmark the page or at it to your blog roll to be reminded of new posts for inspiration! Also, you can check out the blog of Professor Sylvia Vardell for fresh information about children's poetry.

Quick Link: Poet Lee Bennett Hopkins Launches New Site!

 

     Amazing and prolific children's poetry writer Lee Bennett Hopkins has launched a new website yesterday! On the site, he reports that he has written over 250 collections of poetry for children in his lifetime. That's an amazing accomplishment! Hopkins was a part of the establishment of two awards for poetry in children's literature. One of these is  awarded by the International Reading Association every three years, and it is called the Lee Bennett Hopkins/IRA Promising Poet Award. The other, with his namesake, is sponsored by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book.

• Lee Bennett Hopkins new website link
• Lee Bennett Hopkins blog journal just launched on March 18, 2011
• A selection of popular Lee Bennett Hopkins books
• Lee Bennett Hopkins on Facebook

Four of my personal favorites from Lee Bennett Hopkins includes:

• Sharing the Seasons (Margaret K. McElderry, 2010)

• My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2000)
  
  
• Incredible Inventions (Greenwillow, 2009)

• Wonderful Words (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2004) 

His newest collection, I Am the Book (Holiday House, 2011) was just released on March 15th. I certainly love the topic and I can't wait to explore it at a library or bookstore soon! Remember, April is National Poetry Month. I'll be posting about some additional favorite poetry books and authors in the month of April as well!